Ahmed Shamim Pirzada, the Director General of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), addressed concerns about recent disruptions in internet services during a press conference on Monday.
Pirzada, along with Caretaker Minister for Information and Broadcasting Murtaza Solangi and FIA Cybercrime Director Operations Waqaruddin Syed, explained that the disruptions were due to technical glitches arising from an ongoing system upgrade. He mentioned that these disruptions might persist for 2 to 3 months.
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Responding to a question, Pirzada dismissed the idea that the disruptions were related to the online activities of a political party. Caretaker Minister Solangi echoed the explanation, attributing the disruptions to technical issues associated with system installations. He emphasized that there is no guarantee that similar issues won’t occur in the near future.
It’s worth noting that social media platforms in Pakistan experienced three instances of inaccessibility in just over a month, occurring on December 17, January 7, and January 20. These disruptions coincided with the pre-announced online activity of a political party. After the latest disruption on January 20, the PTA issued a statement attributing the internet service disruption to a technical fault.